The question was, how was she going to figure out where? She couldn't simply keep kicking stones until she found her friends.
She knew the answer to getting them out lay in figuring out how they'd gotten in in the first place. Emma doubted Chalchicomehuel's guards had taken the time to wall each of them up. For one thing, it was simply ridiculous from a time management standpoint.
Emma moved down the hall, keeping herself to the shadows. She found three guards at the end and frowned, knowing she'd have to kill them before they had a chance to call out for reinforcements like they had earlier.
Not too easy without a weapon, but if she was able to pull off the plan she'd hastily formed in her head, then she'd have one soon enough.
Emma jumped the first guard, snapping his neck before pulling a spear out of his hand and launching it at the second one, hitting him right through the chest. The third opened his mouth to scream, but Emma jumped him, tackling him and ripping his own sword from his side to hold at his throat. "Make a sound and I kill you. Understand?"
The guard nodded, fear in his reptilian eyes. "Yes…yes. Understand."
"Show me how to get to the people I came in with."
"All dead," the guard claimed.
Emma pushed the sword closer to its neck, blood trickling onto the edge of the blade. "I can make this hurt—a lot."
"I have key to cells!"
"That's what I thought," Emma said with a grin. "I let you up, and you unlock the doors. Call for your buddies, and you're dead before they get here."
She stood, though she kept the sword pointed at the guard as he moved shakily towards a strange device. The point of Emma's sword in his back, he inserted a key from a loop on his belt and turned it.
The hall flashed with a bright light and the walls wavered then shifted, revealing the others in cells similar to her own. All three of them got up and moved into the hall. Emma drove the sword through the guard's back.
Spike immediately ran to Buffy, checking to make sure she was all right. "I'm fine," Buffy assured him as soon as he started inspecting her for wounds. "You?"
"Fine," Spike replied. He grabbed Buffy, holding her tightly against him. "Bloody hell, that had me nervous, being in there and not knowing what was happening to you."
"I know," Buffy said, tightening her hold on him. "Me, too."
Aiden walked past Spike and Buffy, down the hall towards Emma, surveying the large bodies of the three dead guards. "Did you do all of this?"
"Yup. Real quick-like, too," Emma replied.
Aiden then took Emma by surprise when he grabbed her and kissed her hard. She was panting for breath when he pulled away, her eyes wide. "Does thinking about me killing demons get you hot?" she asked.
"No." Aiden cleared his throat, then was compelled to admit, "Well, yes, some. But I kissed you because I was pleased to see you alive. When I was trapped behind that wall, I didn't know what had become of you, and…" He trailed off.
Emma placed her hand against his cheek. "And you were worried about me."
"Yes," Aiden admitted with a nod. "A great deal, actually." He rubbed against the palm of her hand with his face.
Buffy and Spike came down the hallway then, and Emma jerked away from Aiden, coughing as she did. "So, we going to try this whole beating the baddie thing again?" she asked.
"Looks like," Buffy replied. "Though I have to say—not that I'm complaining or anything—but given the situation, it seems a little odd he kept us alive."
"Chalchicomehuel likes to be able to personally torture his enemies to death," Aiden explained.
"Oh," Buffy replied, her nose crinkling. She knelt down and grabbed a sword off of one of the dead guards. "Well, let's make sure he doesn't get that chance then."
They stripped the weapons off the remaining guards before they set out to track down Chalchicomehuel.
Dawn watched as a robed demon approached quickly and knelt at Chalchicomehuel's feet. "My lord, the alignment has begun. The time for the ritual grows near."
Chalchicomehuel's lips curled in what could pass for a smile. "Good. I must prepare. Have the guards escort the Key to the site."
"Yes, my lord."
Chalchicomehuel stood, turning a vicious look on Dawn before he strode down from the dais and out of the chamber. The robed demon stood them, calling for the guards.
Within moments, the guards converged on Dawn, taking her from her chair and dragging her out of the chamber, the robed demon following closely behind. She struggled, trying to fight the demons, but it was no use, as they were much stronger than her. Finally, she slumped.
"Buffy…where are you?" Dawn thought, trying to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her head reminding her Chalchicomehuel had claimed Buffy—as well was Spike, Emma, and Aiden—was dead.
Dawn didn't want to believe that. So often in the past, things had seemed like they were at the end, yet every time, Buffy came through and saved the world. She didn't want to think of that in terms of the possibility Buffy had played the odds one too many times.
Instead, Dawn kept telling herself her sister would always be on the winning side.
The guards brought Dawn up a large, spiral stone staircase, dragging her feet up the stairs when she tried to keep from moving. She stumbled, yet they kept her upright, their sharp claws digging into the flesh of her arms and making her wince in pain.
She refused to cry.
Finally, the guard in front of her pushed open a door, leading to what Dawn figured must me the roof of the fortress. Blood red lightning crackled in the sky overhead, bathing everything in an eerie glow.
"Take her there!" the robed demon barked at the guards, pointing to where two large poles were fastened to the stone. Dangling between them was four sets of manacles, and the guards chained Dawn's hands and feet, easily subduing her as she tried to struggle again.
"To fight now is useless, Key," the robed demon told her as he approached her, running the tips of his claws down the side of her hair. "You will not be released from these chains until your body is no more than an empty husk."
"Buffy won't let you do this," Dawn replied, still bucking in her chains.
The demon laughed. "I do not know this 'Buffy' you speak of, but I can assure you, the name strikes no fear in my heart."
"That's because you're an idiot," Dawn growled.
"Silence, Key!" the demon yelled as he slapped her. "I have grown tired of your insolent mouth."
"Yeah, and I've grown tired of your ugly, scaly face, but there's not much I can do about that either."
The demon roared, raising his hand to strike her again when another, larger hand closed over it. "Calm yourself, Rilagal. The girl means only to anger you, yet her taunts are meaningless. There is no reason to begin the spill of her blood before the ritual."
Rilagal turned and knelt at Chalchicomehuel's feet. "I am sorry, my lord. I offer you penance for my folly of being so easily provoked by the filthy human girl."
Chalchicomehuel placed his hand atop Rilagal's head. "And you can trust I shall collect your penance soon. In the mean time, the ritual must begin."
Dawn looked at Chalchicomehuel as he began to approach her, her eyes widening at the sight of strange symbols carved in his skin. He had a dagger in his hand, and she knew it was meant for her.
His cold, reptilian hand lay against her cheek. "It is a shame the ritual will fully drain you of your life," he said, his tongue flickering. "You have an appealing body, for a human. You would've made an enjoyable concubine."
What Dawn would've given for use of her arms and a sharp, pointy weapon… Instead, she had to make due with glaring.
This ritual wasn't going to happen. Buffy would save her.
"My lord, the time is at hand," Rilagal announced. "You must begin the ritual at once."
Chalchicomehuel took a step back from Dawn before he raised his dagger to the air, calling out words in a language Dawn didn't recognize. Then, he brought the dagger down and moved to Dawn again, slicing shallow cuts into her sides.
Dawn winced in pain, her mind flashing back to a similar moment back on Glory's tower, and a wave of dread washing over her.
"Come on, Buffy… I need you now," she thought.
As Dawn's blood began to drip onto the stones beneath her feet, Rilagal began to chant, his voice booming. Chalchicomehuel knelt to the ground, placing one of his hands in both of the small pools of blood. Then, the demon rose again, one blood-covered hand on the amulet and the other one reaching towards the stormy sky.
Thunder boomed loud enough to shake the fortress itself, and the heavens opened.
Dawn began to fear that maybe this time, Buffy was too late…
The guards seemed to be otherwise occupied as Spike, Buffy, and Emma followed Aiden through the fortress, since very few of the demons attacked—and the ones who did were quickly dispatched by the small group.
Buffy wasn't sure if that was good or bad, considering they could find significantly more guards waiting for them once they reached Chalchicomehuel.
"They're up there," Aiden said, stepping over the body of his latest kill and pointing towards a stone staircase. "The call of the amulet is strong. Chalchicomehuel is attempting to access its powers."
"Then let's put a stop to him," Spike said.
They ran towards the stairs, weapons at the ready. Half way up, the building suddenly shook, knocking Buffy off her feet. Spike caught her easily, his hands around her waist as he set her upright again.
"Easy there, luv," he said, his voice and breath warm against the back of her neck.
"Thanks," Buffy replied, amazed that something so small could make her feel comforted, even at a time like this.
They ran the rest of the way up the stairs, stopping when they reached the roof of the fortress. They stayed hidden in the stairwell, trying to avoid the gaze of the guards Chalchicomehuel had posted there.
Buffy could tell from the way the guards were gathered, something was going on, and she struggled to peer through the bulky lizard demons and catch a glimpse of what it was.
When she did, her blood ran cold at what she saw.
Dawn…
Blood…
Buffy's heart skipped then pounded harder in her chest as she watched the sky begin to split apart, a bright light shining from a portal.
A portal created from Dawn's blood.
A portal that wouldn't close until the blood stopped flowing.
Cold dread washed over Buffy as she realized she'd gotten there too late.
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